› added 3 years ago

151

TIL: Every year in ancient Athens, 500 people were randomly selected to spend the next year of their life proposing laws that the population then voted on.

Read more nationalgeographic.org

via reddit.com

OGYaX TIL that in 2014, a scientific paper was published with the phrase "get me off your f****g mailing list" repeated many times. The authors helped exposing what is known as a "predatory journal".
9Ojm TIL from the thirties until the seventies, fluoroscopes were common in children’s shoe stores. They are live x-ray machines that let you see the bones in your feet when you wiggle your toes. By 1970, 33 states had banned them due to health concerns.
oXAY TIL 88% of the world’s population lives in the Northern Hemisphere
N75rE TIL: Many Native North American cultures have historically recognized the existence of a third gender, or a "two-spirit" person. Someone who is regarded as neither male or female
4XGd5 TIL that when Hurricane Ivan was in the Gulf of Mexico in 2004, pressure sensors on the ocean floor detected a freak wave 91 feet tall. Computer simulations suggested that at the storm's peak as a Category 5 it was producing waves over 130 feet high.